Churches and other places of worship in Ottawa’s downtown core and near transit stations will be allowed to rent out parking spaces this fall as thousands of federal public servants’ head to the office four days a week. There have been concerns about a lack of parking spaces in the downtown core as public servants spend more time in the office and post-secondary students return to Ottawa for the fall term. The city is anticipating an additional 65,000 trips into the downtown core each week. Councillors on the planning and housing committee approved a Zoning Bylaw amendment on Wednesday to allow temporary parking at some city facilities and places of worship until the end of March. Under the plan, places of worship in the downtown core within 600 metres of O-Train stations and bus rapid transit will be allowed to rent out parking spaces on their property. “Principal use parking can be offered or leased to the general public at the operator’s direction,” staff said in the report. City staff noted many places of worship have “large parking lots to accommodate peak weekend attendance; these parking lots may be underutilized during weekday business hours.” The report says a business licence will not be required for places of worship to make parking spaces available to the public. Property owners have the right to decide whether to rent out parking spaces for commercial purposes. Six City of Ottawa facilities would also be allowed to offer parking spaces for rent this fall. The parking spaces at city facilities would be available through the city’s existing parking services system. Ottawa’s 48-point plan to keep commuters moving this fall included optimizing existing parking spaces by leveraging “underutilized parking lots at places of worship and specified City-owned facilities” in downtown Ottawa and near rapid transit stations.
